Syringe with single use cartridge and holder



April 8, 1969 s. J. sARNoFF 3,437,090 v SYRINGE WITH SINGLE USE' CARTRIDGE AND HOLDER i Filed June 21, 196e l INVENroR.

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United States Patent 3,437,090 SYRINGE WITH SINGLE USE CARTRIDGE AND HOLDER Stanley J. Sarnoif, 7507 Hampden Lane, Bethesda, Md. 20014 Filed June 21, 1966, Ser. No. 559,134 Int. Cl. A61m 5/22 U.S. Cl. 128--218 9 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to hypodermic syringes and particularly of the type wherein the entire unit is discarded after a single use.

In such syringes, it is obvious that the parts must be of simple construction, of few parts and of dheap material, else the cost of the throw away device becomes prohibitive.

1t is therefore an object of his invention to create a cartridge holder for a known type of cartridge which is made very simply, is of itself of simple construction and yet capable of ready association with the cartridge.

yIt is a further object of the invention to provide a cartridge holder and cartridge combination which is of such construction that the cartridge and holder may be readily associated and the combination discarded after single use, the combination being very inexpensive.

A further understanding of the invention may be obtained by consideration of the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in section of a cartridge and cartridge holder in disassembled relationship, a needle portion rigid with the cartridge being shown in dotted lines within a needle shield surmounted by a hollow operating rod, part of the cartridge being broken away to expose a plunger therein;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cartridge and cartridge holder in assembled relationship, the needle still being shielded;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cartridge and cartridge holder in assembled relationship, the operating rod being disassociated from the needle and applied to the screw embedded in a piston for enabling driving of the piston in the cartridge;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 5 is a view on an enlarged scale of a detent structure in the holder, on the line 5 5 of FlIG. 4.

Now referring to the drawings in greater detail, at is indicated a cylindrical vial of transparent glass or transparent plastic with a piston 12 of rubber or other resilient material at the back or lefthand end of the cartridge, said piston having secured thereto a rearwardly extending screw threaded member 14. The forward end of the vial has a neck portion 16 forming a flange 18 whose external diameter is less than the external diameter of the vial. A transparent needle holder 20 havinga flange portion 22 is clamped to the front face of the vial by an aluminum ring `214 spun around the flanges of the vial and needle holder, the flange 26 of a burstable diaphragm 28 being interposed Abetween the other two ilanges. The external diameter of the ring 24 is less than the external diameter of the vial. As explained more fully in the Sarnoif application Ser. No. 447,741, filed Apr. 13, 1965, upon forward movement of piston 12 against a medicament 30 in the vial, the diaphragm will be ballooned and either burst by reason of thinning of the wall or by reason of engagement of the expanding balloon with knife edges 32 positioned within the needle holder. The needle holder has secured in an elongated sleeve 34 integral with the holder a hypodermic needle 36 whose rear end may be blunt and whose forward end is bevelled for penetration into the body of a patient, Snugly surrounding the needle is a needle guard 38 frictionally held on the sleeve 34 by reason of an enlargement or hub 40 at the rear end of the guard. The diameter of the exterior of the sleeve and the internal diameter of the hub are substantially the same, both being slightly less than the diameter of the threads on screw 14, so that, when the guard is removed from the needle, the hub of the guard may be screwed onto screw 14, the guard being made of plastic material suiciently hard so that a thread will be .formed in the hub. When the guard is engaged with the piston, the piston may be operated forwardly to burst the diaphragm as it balloons and, if desired, backwardly to perform an aspirating function before continuing forward movement to eject the medicament in the vial. Since, however, when the balloon is burst there may be a spurt of medicament out of the needle and into the atmosphere with wetting of adjacent objects, it is desirable to provide an additional plunger operating means. Said additional operating means is in the form of a hollow plastic cylinder 60 of a size to snugly lit over the guard, as shown in FIG. 1, the guard desirably being provided with longitudinal ribs 62 to facilitate removal of the rod from olf the guard. The hollow rod has a reduced neck portion 64 of a size to t over the threaded member 14 and either self tap itself on the screw or be formed with an internal thread, as thread 66. The opposite end of the rod is provided with a circular thumb rest 68 or finger piece against which the thumb presses in injection processes or which the ngers engage in an aspirating action, when the rod is coupled with the threaded member.

'llhe cartridge holder is of resilient transparent plastic material capable of slight deformation during assembly of the cartridge and the cartridge holder. The cartridge holder 42 is generally a hollow cylinder 4'4 with a rectangular in plan cross piece 46 hollowed at the rear face for saving of material, the cylinder at its forward end terminating in a neck portion 48 whose internal diameter is just lange enough to non-frictionally accommodate the ring 24 of the cartridge. The inner wall of the cylindrical portion of the cartridge holder is provided with equally spaced ribs 49, preferably three ribs spaced apart, the ribs being of a height to non-frictionally accommodate the vial without any lateral play between the vial and cartridge holder. The ribs offer less resistance to assembly of parts than direct face to face contact of the vial wall and the interior wall of the cartridge holder. When the cartridge is thrust into the cartridge holder, as by engaging the cross piece by two fingers straddling the cartridge holder and by the thumb engaging the rear en-d of the cartridge, the face of the cartridge adjacent the neck 16 will engage the seat 50 formed at the neck 48, the cartridge holder for enabling this to' take place being made short enough to have the vial protrude from thel rear end of the cylindrical portion of the cartridge holder. The rear end of the vial may extend to the rear of the cross piece.

To lock the cartridge within the cartridge holder, the front end of the holder is provided with a number of projections in the form of cams 52, preferably 3 in number spaced 120 about the inner wall of the cartridge holder and they may be made integral with the ribs. Each of the cams has a wedge portion having a ramp surface 54, the wedge portion having its lowest height toward the rear of the cartridge holder and the ramp surface 54 being engaged by the ring 24 on the vial as it is lforced into the neck portion of the cartridge holder, the cartridge holder being distorted to allow the ring to pass the ramp portion and to nally become locked in position by engagement of the radial surface 56 of the cam, the radial surface then engaging the rearward spun-in-end of the ring.

After the cartridge and its attached needle covered by the guard has been inserted, the guard is removed and attached to the screw threaded member 14 ready for use of the syringe.

Apart from the cheapness of construction and ease of assembly of parts, the arrangement offers the possibility of use of the cartridge with any of a number of other cartridge holders since the cartridge is a standard cartridge intended for use with various types of syringes. However, the cartridge and cartridge holder herein are peculiarly adapted to one another by reason of size of parts and adaptability of quick assembly and automatic locking of the cartridge in the cartridge holder.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In combination, an assembly comprising a cartridge and cartridge holder, said cartridge holder being formed of tubular resilient material and having a reduced diameter open-ended portion at the forward end thereof, a projection on the interior Wall of said holder, said cartridge having a hollow needle xed therein and which has a forward end projecting through the forward end of the holder, said cartridge further having a recessed portion back of the forward end thereof engaged with said projection, whereby when the cartridge is inserted Within the holder, the cartridge will initially distort the holder to enable the projection to come opposite and engage in the recessed portion, the reduced diameter portion of the holder limiting the forward movement of the cartridge, said projection and recessed portion having planar portions engaging each other to prevent withdrawal movement of said cartridge from said holder, said planar portions being substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the assembly.

2. The structure of claim 1 in combination with a needle guard about the needle.

3. The structure as set forth in claim 1 in which the projection is in the form of a wedge, the lowest height of which is closer to the rear of the cartridge holder than the front of the holder and having a radial face engaging the recessed portion of the cartridge.

4. The structure of claim 1 in which rilbs running longitudinally of the cartridge holder are provided on the interior wall of the holder to reduce friction between the cartridge and the holder upon assembly of the two.

A5. The cartridge and cartridge holder as set forth in claim 1 in which the cartridge is provided with a plunger and there is further provided a needle guard removably positioned over the needle and a hollow rod for engagement with the plunger to operate the same removably retained on the cartridge.

6. A cartridge holder comprising a resilient hollow cylinder having an open ended neck at the forward end thereof and an open rear end, at least one projection on the interior wall of said cylinder in back of the neck, and a dinger engageable cross piece at the rear end of said cylinder, the projection being in the form of a wedge with the face of the wedge nearest the neck extending radially of the holder.

7. The cartridge holder of claim 6 in which at least one longitudinal rib is located on the interior wall of the holder.

8. The cartridge holder as set forth in claim 7 in which the rib is in alignment with the projection.

9. In combination, an assembly comprising a cartridge and a cartridge holder, said cartridge holder being open ended at lboth ends thereof and formed of resilient material and having a reduced diameter portion at the forward end thereof, a projection on the interior wall of said cartridge holder, said cartridge having a hollow needle projecting through the reduced diametered portion of the holder, and a portion engageable with said projection so that When the cartridge is inserted Within the cartridge holder the said portion of the holder Will engage the projection to distort the cartridge holder enabling that portion to pass beyond the projection, the holder thereafter restoring to its normal undistorted state, said projection and recessed portion having planar portions engaging each other to prevent withdrawal movement of said cartridge from said holder, said planar portions being substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the assembly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,671,449 3/1954 Dann. 2,865,372 12/ 1958 Miskel et al. 3,074,541 1/1963 Roehr 206-43 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

M. F. MAJESTIC, Assistant Examiner. 

